Short Attention Span RacinDeals
Wow. It’s been three months since I posted anything here. I certainly didn’t intend to go that long, but as John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
I was somewhat taken by surprise to realize that the Bud Shootout is this weekend. I don’t think I have anything else going on Sunday, so I’ll probably watch it. [Just realized it’ll be run Saturday night instead of Sunday.]
That leads me into the main topic of this missive. I’ve followed Winston Cup racing pretty regularly since 1989, a span of 14 seasons. Before that, about the only race I got to see was whatever was on a broadcast network (typically the Daytona 500). But I didn’t really get into racing until Darrell Waltrip won the Daytona 500, which was right about the time I first got cable. That let me follow the series a little more.
Then a couple of years later, I heard that Waltrip was going to be racing again at the Fairgrounds track in Nashville. I decided to go, and I believe he won the race (it was an ASA race). Later that year he returned to race in the All American 400, which was the first of eight or so of those races I attended.
In 1994, I decided to start going to the local weekly racing at the Fairgrounds. By then, I’d learned of its history and of all the racing talent that had come through there. I got to see Casey Atwood come up; I got to see Dale Earnhardt, Jr. come through the track, plus guys like Andy Kirby, Chad Chaffin, Joe Buford, and Bobby Hamilton, Jr.
So, where’s all this going? Well, it appears that I’m no longer on the same wavelength as NASCAR’s top series. Over the last couple of years, the racing has gotten progressively boring. I hate to say that, because I know these guys risk their lives every time they get into the car. NASCAR seems to be going the way of F1 and CART, putting on races where whoever leads coming out of the last pit stop ends up the winner. You can see where that took CART; now they’re a second tier open wheeled series.
I registered the domain “racindeals.com” in March of 1999. At the time, I didn’t have any plans on doing anything with it; I was just surprised that no one had registered it so I grabbed it. Later that year, I got so fed up with some of the stuff NASCAR was doing, I decided to start this site as a place I could use to vent.
After 3 plus years, I’m vented out.
Why? Several reasons:
- NASCAR’s inability (or unwillingness) to move the marker on the competition/pure entertainment scale back towards entertainment. They had a great aero package for the restrictor plate tracks that combined the best of both worlds, but whining from the drivers led them to back off (see next item).
- The drivers coming into the series these days don’t seem to have the willingness to win. They’re content just riding around and picking up a paycheck. And that’s rubbed off on the older guys, like Wallace, Jarrett, and Martin.
- Running the site just takes more time now than I’m willing to spend. It’s just not worth it to not only watch the races, but keep up with the racing media in order to come up with commentary about the whole mess.
So, as a result of that, sometime after the Daytona 500 and before the end of February, RacinDeals.com will come under new management/ownership. RacinDeals.com contributor Nancy Osterhoudt has graciously decided to take over the operation and ownership of the site.
As for me, more than likely when you’re sitting on the couch for four hours watching the cars go around and around at places like Dover, I’ll be out on my KLR650 motorcycle exploring the area around Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Sure, I’ll watch a race or two, and if something comes up that I think I have a unique perspective on, then I’ll post a RacinDeals column. They’ll be few and far between though.
For the most part, I’ve enjoyed running the site. It’s been controversial at times, but I never started out trying to be politically correct. I’ve discovered that just like any other sport, NASCAR has a range of fans: from true fans to people who shouldn’t be walking around free.
So, enjoy the races, or more importantly, enjoy life; that’s what I plan to do.